


You Still Believe In Me

by WandaRavenBlack



Category: Marvel (Comics), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Developing Friendships, Empath, F/M, Flying, Growing Up, Homelessness, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, Smoking, Superstition
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-09-26 07:49:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17137862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WandaRavenBlack/pseuds/WandaRavenBlack
Summary: Remy gets hit with a beam that de-ages him. Now, the X-Men have to take care of a small, scared child who will tell them more about their teammate than they ever imagined.





	1. We'll Figure It Out

“Does anyone have eyes on Gambit?!” 

Scott’s voice was worried. He had been trying to contact the young thief for over ten minutes now, but there was no answer. 

“I saw him follow one of these robots into the old hospital. But I didn’t hear any explosions from there.” 

Before anyone could comment on Betsy’s answer, a scream from somewhere above them made everyone look up. Remy was on the roof of the tallest building, throwing cards at the robot. His side was burned and they understood that the robot must’ve hit him. Which managed to shock everyone. Remy was almost impossible to hit or catch when he was fighting. Then another scream and they saw Remy being thrown out into the air. 

“Angel!” 

But the winged mutant was already shooting upwards. Yeah, he didn’t like the arrogant cajun, but falling from that height would result in death. And he didn’t want that. He caught the falling man in mid air and frowned when he realized that something was wrong. The thief was way too light. He glanced down at his face and almost dropped him. In the last second, he strengthened his grip and pulled the cajun closer to himself. He landed gently and looked at the approaching X-Men with wide eyes. Scott frowned. 

“Angel? What’s wrong?” 

Instead of answering, he put the mutant on the ground. A few gasps were heard. Instead of the tall thief, what they saw was a young boy, maybe six years old. His eyes were closed but, by the reddish hair, they quickly realized that it was Remy. Rogue shot up into the air, only to come back seconds later with a frown on her face. 

“It’s gone.” 

Meanwhile, Hank had kneeled next the boy. Very quickly he checked his body and looked up at Scott with a headshake. 

“None of his former injuries are there.” 

Scott took a deep breath and exchanged a look with Jean. She nodded with a slight smile. 

“Alright. Angel, can you carry him to the Blackbird? We better get him to the mansion while he’s still passed out.” 

Warren nodded and bent down. Quickly, he pulled the big coat around Remy’s body and lifted him up. The walk back to the jet was silent. Everyone kept glancing over to the boy. The shirt, which usually laid tightly on Remy, was now looking more like a dress on him. The pants and bo staff had been picked up by Ororo, who was clutching them tightly in her hands. As soon as they got into the jet, Warren put the boy on one of the seats and strapped him in. 

“Alright. Let’s go.” 

They flew in almost total silence. Only Scott’s voice was heard when he explained what had happened to Xavier. The professor had agreed that they should get to the mansion as soon as possible and added that he would go see if he could find any child sized clothes. They landed and Warren picked the boy up again. Betsy smiled softly when she saw that, but didn’t say anything. Quickly, they made their way to the living room, grateful that all the students were on summer vacation and the X-Men were the only ones left in the mansion. The professor was waiting in the living room, a pair of jeans and a plain black shirt laying on the couch. Without a word, Jean took the boy from Warren and quickly put the clothes on him. Thankfully, his underwear had shrunken with him, sparing them some embarrassing situations. She put the boy on the couch and turned to the professor. He smiled at her, before looking back to the boy. 

“Now, explain it to me again.” 

Scott flopped down into one of the chairs. 

“We lost sight of Gambit for about ten minutes, before he appeared on the roof of one of the buildings. I don’t know how, but that robot managed to get in two hits. The second one knocked him off the roof. Warren grabbed him before he crashed and when he landed, Remy was like that.” 

Warren shook his head. 

“Not really. He was like that when I caught him too. I got so surprised that I almost dropped him.” 

Betsy sat down too. 

“So. He must have changed immediately after he fell off the roof. Because he looked normal when he was up there fighting.” 

Before anyone could answer, they heard a groan from the couch and Remy’s eyes opened slowly. Jean hurried over to him and crouched down next to the boy. 

“Remy? How are you feeling?” 

The boy turned to her with wide eyes, before he jumped over the back of the couch and took a few steps away from them. Everyone froze. There was pure fear in the black and red eyes and that was something they were not used to. Meanwhile, the boy started to shake his head. 

“Non. Remy been good. Remy promise. He been good.” 

Jean stood up slowly and walked around the couch. 

“Remy, sweetheart. It’s alright. I won’t hurt you.” 

But he just kept shaking his head and backing away from her, until he suddenly noticed Warren. His eyes widened and he rushed over to him before anyone could react. Quickly, he fell to his knees and put his hands together as if he was praying. Warren’s eyes widened and it was clear that he didn’t know what to do. 

“Monsieur Ange. Remy didn’t mean. He try to stop. But the devil came for him. It be all Remy eyes. Remy knows. Devil’s eyes. But Remy sorry.” 

Tears started to fall. 

“Don’t throw Remy to hell, monsieur Ange. Remy scared.” 

And suddenly, Logan realized what was happening.  _ ‘Jean. Or Betsy. Tell Warren that…’  _ But, before he could finish it, Warren had snapped out of his shock. He knelt down in front of the boy and grabbed his hands. 

“Remy? Can you look at me?” 

Remy shook his head frantically. 

“Non. Remy have devil’s eyes. They say that.” 

Warren sighed. 

“Remy. S'il vous plaît.” 

Very slowly, the boy looked up. Warren smiled. 

“Your eyes are beautiful. Really. But there is something I need to tell you.  I’m not an angel. I’m a mutant, just like you. My wings are my mutation.” 

Remy glanced over to them, before he turned back to Warren’s face. 

“You know Remy’s name.” 

Warren nodded. 

“Yeah. We know your name. We’re all your friends. No one here will hurt you.” 

Hesitantly, Remy turned his head and glanced over to the others. His eyes stopped at where Logan was standing. He tilted his head slightly. 

“Monsieur?” 

Logan took a step closer to them, but that only resulted in Remy yelping and pressing himself close to Warren. The mutant, although shocked, quickly pulled his wings around the boy and glared up at Logan. Everyone stood it silence for a few seconds, before Remy’s head peaked out between the feathers. He looked at Logan and frowned slightly. Not wanting to scare him again, Logan crouched down. 

“Yes?” 

Remy took a deep breath and seemed to relax, but he stayed in the cocoon that Warren had made with his wings. 

“You a farouche?” 

Logan frowned. 

“I’m sorry but I don’t speak french, kid.” 

“It means wild.” 

Remy glanced over to Jean and moved even closer to Warren one of his hands gripping a few feathers. He shook his head. 

“Non. Not wild. Remy mean…” 

He looked extremely frustrated at not getting his point across. Suddenly, Rogue got an idea. 

“Do you mean a feral, sugar?” 

Remy glanced over to her with a sudden smile. 

“Oui. That the word Victor use. Feral.” 

Logan froze. 

“Victor? You mean Victor Creed? Sabretooth?” 

Remy nodded and leaned even more out from behind the wings. 

“Oui. You know Victor?” 

Before Logan could answer, Bobby exclaimed loudly: 

“You know Creed?!” 

Remy’s eyes widened and he ducked back in behind the wings. A few of the older X-Men glared at the Iceman before their attention turned back to the boy. Logan walked a bit closer to Warren and then sat down on the floor. 

“Victor is my brother.” 

Remy’s head peaked out again. 

“You’re Jimmy?” 

Logan nodded. 

“Yeah, kid. I go by Logan now, but Victor still calls me Jimmy.” 

Very slowly, Remy walked out from behind the wings, but his hand remained closed around the feathers. 

“Can I talk to him?” 

Logan nodded again. He pulled out his phone and chose Victor’s contact. He had added it long ago and never gotten around to delete it. After a few signals, a gruff voice answered: 

“What?” 

“Victor? There is someone here who wants to talk to you. I’ll put you on speaker.” 

He put the phone on speaker and they could all hear the other feral cursing up a storm on the other side. Remy grinned. 

“Victor?” 

Suddenly, all sounds on the other side of the phone quieted. After a few seconds, Victor answered slowly. 

“Runt?” 

Remy’s grin widened. 

“Oui. Remy’s here with Jimmy. And monsieur Ange. But he be not a real Ange. Remy don’t know…” 

They heard a growl from the other side and the boy’s eyes widened. 

“I don’t know. Remy mean… I meant…” 

He paused and took a deep breath. 

“Calm down, runt. Put an ‘I’ in every place where you would put your name. Like I told you.” 

Remy nodded and started again. 

“I’s…” 

“I am. Not I is.” 

Most of the X-Men were shocked at the soft voice the feral was using. It was nothing they would have expected from the beast they so often fought. 

“I am here with Jimmy. And monsieur Ange. But he be…” 

“Is. Not be.” 

Remy looked even more concentrated as he continued. 

“He is not a real Ange. Re… I don’t know how I got here.” 

They heard a chuckle from the other side. 

“Alright. Talk your usual talk or else we’ll never get anywhere. You’re in the mansion I presume.” 

Remy nodded. When he started to speak again, they all noticed that he was talking much faster than when he had to talk correctly.  

“Oui. Remy don’t know how he got here. But they be nice. They not scared of Remy’s eyes. Say they be beautiful. Remy remember running from the devil. He be trying to get Remy.” 

“Wait a second.” 

There was a growl in Creed’s voice but the boy didn’t seem scared. 

“The devil. You mean Sinister? He came for you?” 

A few people gasped while Remy just nodded. 

“Oui. But Remy threw a stone at him and it went boom. And he ran. But there was a high roof. And Remy jumped. He woke up here.” 

Victor growled again. 

“Alright, runt. We’ll figure it out. I’ll get to the mansion in two hours. Maybe a bit less. Stay close to Jimmy and that angel of yours. They will protect you from Sinister.” 

Remy smiled and moved back to Warren, who put his wings around the boy again. 


	2. Victor

Logan put the phone away and stood up. 

“Alright, kid. You wanna eat some before Victor gets here?” 

Remy nodded. Seeing that, Warren stood up and stretched his hand out. The boy grabbed it immediately, letting go of his feathers at the same time. He glanced around with a frown and asked quietly: 

“Are you all Victor’s friends?” 

Scott nodded. 

“Yeah. We’re his friends.” 

Suddenly, Remy’s eyes widened and he pulled his hand forcefully away from Warren. Seconds later he was on the other side of the room again. 

“You be lying!” 

Logan rolled his eyes. 

“You ARE lying, if anything.” 

Remy looked at him with sudden hate in his eyes. 

“You can’t tell Remy what to say! Remy hate you! You lie to Remy! Victor won’t be coming here!” 

“You talked to him yourself, kid. He’s on his way.” 

Remy’s head shook from side to side. 

“Non. You be lying. Remy can feel you be lying.” 

He grabbed the chair he had backed into and it started glowing. Before the others even reacted, Betsy stepped forward. 

“Remy?” 

He turned his head to her. 

“Listen to me. Yes, we lied to you. Victor Creed is our enemy.” 

Everyone turned to her in shock, but she just kept her eyes on the boy. 

“He fought against us many times and hurt us more than you can imagine. He almost killed a few of us. Logan is really his brother. But they don’t get along. Victor is a bad man and he has done very bad things. That’s the truth.” 

With wide eyes they saw as Remy dragged the charge back into himself and took a few steps towards Betsy. 

“You be not lying.” 

She shook her head. 

“No. And I promise that I will not lie to you. Do you believe me?” 

Remy shook his head. 

“Non. You look like the clients that pay much and be bad. The ones Victor kill because they touch Remy.” 

A few of them caught onto what the boy was talking about and looked pale. Betsy was a bit disturbed but that didn’t stop her from taking another step towards the boy. She didn’t crouch down to put herself on his level like the others had done, but that didn’t seem to bother him. 

“I’m not like that, Remy. And you know I’m not lying about that. I would never do that to you. And if I ever did, I wouldn’t even fight Victor when he came for me.” 

Remy tilted his head at that. 

“You wouldn’t?” 

“No. I wouldn’t. And if I find out that anyone does that to you again, I might just call a temporary truce with Victor and kill that bastard with him. You care about him very much, right?” 

Remy nodded. 

“He be mon pere. Not real. The bad man is the real. But Victor keep me safe. So he be mon pere.” 

Jean’s eyes widened but, not wanting to startle the boy, she sent over a message to Betsy.  _ ‘Can you ask him about who the bad man is?’  _ Betsy tilted her head. 

“Remy? Who is the bad man? Your real father.” 

Remy sighed. 

“Victor call him Sinister. But Remy talked to him. He came when Victor been gone. His name be Nathaniel Essex. And he say my name be Remington. But Victor say it be Remy. And Remy like his name.” 

The woman nodded, not letting her shock show. 

“Alright. Why don’t we go eat, as Logan suggested. Victor will be here in less than two hours.” 

Remy’s frown came back full force. 

“Non. Victor can’t come here. You hate him. He be in danger. You kill him.” 

Betsy smiled softly. 

“Do you really think any of us can kill Victor?” 

That seemed to make Remy think. In the end, he shook his head. 

“Non. You can’t.” 

Betsy stretched her hand out to him. With slight hesitancy, he grabbed it and followed the woman out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, everyone turned to the professor. Scott was the first one to speak up. 

“He’s Sinister’s son?” 

Logan growled. 

“That’s the most disturbing thing about this for you? Kid’s been clearly used on the streets whenever Creed left him. Which brings us to another problem. What are we going to do once he gets here?” 

Warren walked a bit closer to them. 

“We have to offer him a temporary truce. Remy is scared about what we will do when Creed gets here. We need to calm him down, before he blows something up. I’m not sure how Betsy managed to know what to say to him, but we need to keep him like that. If he thinks we’re a threat, he might run away with Creed. And we all know that he’s working for Sinister again.” 

Xavier nodded. 

“I agree with Warren. We need to keep Remy here until we can figure out what happened and how to reverse it. Hank, I want you to start looking into it as soon as we know how we’ll deal with Victor Creed. Ororo, Bobby and Rogue. I want the three of you to go back to the fight scene tomorrow morning and see if you don’t find anything.” 

Before they managed to say anything else, there was a pounding on the door. Logan sniffed in the air and frowned. 

“How the fuck did he get here so fast?” 

“LOGAN!” 

Jean and Scott were glaring at the feral but he didn’t pay them any attention. 

“Creed is here.” 

And he started walking towards the front door, the rest of them following him quickly. He wrenched it open and growled when he saw the other feral. Victor looked as if he had ran through the woods at full speed. He looked around. 

“Where is he?” 

The professor sighed. 

“Remy is in the kitchen, with Elizabeth. We should talk, before you get to see him.” 

The feral growled softly, but stayed where he was. 

“We’re willing to call a temporary truce and allow you to stay at the mansion, if you in return swear to not give Remy to mister Sinister.” 

Creed’s eyes widened slightly. 

“Why would I try to give him to someone I tried to keep him away from for so long?” 

Scott stepped forward. 

“Do you accept those rules or not?” 

Creed nodded. 

“Sure. What did you tell him about our relationship?” 

Logan shrugged. 

“We told him a lie and he called us out on it. Then we told him the truth and he believed.” 

Victor smirked. 

“He knows when people are lying. Something to do with him being an empath.” 

Jean’s eyes widened. 

“Remy is an empath?” 

Victor looked at her in surprise before he burst out laughing. 

“Oh dear. He’s been staying with you for so long now and you didn’t know.” 

Before he could continue, they heard a door open and the sound of footsteps approaching quickly. Remy came into the hall, Betsy following him at a slower pace. A big grin appeared on his face when he saw the feral. 

“Victor!” 

He rushed past everyone and threw himself at the man, who picked him up effortlessly and put him on his hip. 

“Hey, runt. You been good for them?” 

Remy nodded. 

“Remy been good. He didn’t make things go boom.” 

Then he looked at his hair and giggled. 

“You have leaves in your hair.” 

Victor shrugged. 

“I took a few shortcuts to get here quicker. I heard you were in the kitchen. Have you eaten yet?” 

Remy shook his head. 

“Non. Madame Betsy was going to make Remy food.” 

Victor nodded and put the boy down again. 

“Alright. Why don’t you and ‘madame Betsy’ go back to the kitchen and eat. I have a few more things I have to talk with the others about. That okay?” 

Remy hesitated, before he nodded. 

“D’accord.” 

He walked back to Betsy and she led him back to the kitchen. Victor turned back to the professor. 

“I know you have questions about him.” 

Xavier nodded. 

“Why don’t we move this conversation to the living room. There is no need to stay in the doorway.” 

They walked back to the big room and all sat down, keeping as far away from Creed as possible. He smirked when he saw that but didn’t comment on it. Jean was the first one to ask. 

“How old do you think he is?” 

“I would say six. Maybe even five.” 

She nodded. 

“And his speaking patterns? I mean, adult Remy is speaking in some weird mix of english and cajun french but now it seems as if he can’t even put sentences together. And he keeps to the third person form.” 

Victor sighed deeply. 

“Remy grew up on the streets before I found him. He never got to learn how to talk, before that. He picked up words and knew what they meant, but he didn’t know how to put sentences together. Not to talk about his absolute lack of grammar. And he never had anyone who would teach him how to speak. He heard others say that Remy did this wrong and Remy did that wrong and decided that it must be the correct way to talk about himself. Even older, when he was with Sinister, he still slipped into those patterns. Used to drive Sinister crazy.” 

Scott leaned forwards. 

“Excuse me? Remy was with Sinister when he was older?” 

Victor nodded. 

“Yeah. But that’s not my story to tell. If he hasn’t told you yet, then there must be a reason behind that. Back to his speaking. He will not get mad if you correct him. Or, he never got mad at me. I think he wants to learn, but sometimes is afraid of the price.” 

He turned his head towards the winged mutant. 

“You gained his trust.” 

Warren nodded. 

“Yes. He… In the beginning he thought that I was a real angel and kept saying that it wasn’t his fault and beggin me to not drag him to hell.” 

Victor sighed heavily. 

“Remy spent his earliest years among people who were very superstitious. They called him Le Diable Blanc.” 

Jean gasped. 

“The white devil.” 

He nodded. 

“Yeah. When Sinister showed his interest in him, Remy kinda gave up. He thought that he was destined for evil.  I managed to pull him out of that. His life changed when he met Jean-Luc LeBeau. But that was first when he was ten.” 

The door opened and Remy walked inside, followed by Betsy. His head was hanging slightly and he walked over to Warren. 

“Remy’s sorry for yelling at you.” 

Warren glanced over to Betsy who was wearing a slight smile. 

“It’s alright, Remy. I’m sorry for lying to you.” 

The boy shook his head. 

“Non. You never lied to Remy. You be nice. And Remy be sorry.” 

Warren smiled. 

“As I said, it’s alright.” 

He opened his arms and Remy quickly moved forward to hug him. The mutants wings closed around the boy, before they let go of each other and Remy ran over to Victor. The feral picked him up and sat him down on his knee. 

“Alright, runt. We’ll be staying here for some time. That alright with you?” 

Remy nodded. 

“Good.” 

He turned him around with one swift movement and sat him down so that they were facing each other. 

“Ground rules. You don’t go anywhere without either Psylocke, Jimmy, the angel or the professor. They take you to your room when it gets dark and you don’t leave your room until one of them gets you in the morning. Unless there is an emergency in which case you fight like a wild cat. Understood?” 

Once again, Remy nodded. 

“You eat at least three times a day. None of the ‘we have to save it for later’ crap. This is a well stocked house and I don’t want you going hungry.” 

Another nod. 

“You don’t pick fights with anyone, unless it’s Jimmy. You have my personal permission to kick his ass whenever you want.” 

Logan snorted but didn’t say anything when he noticed the slight smile on Remy’s face. 

“You don’t go outside without someone watching you. The fact that you lost Sinister, does not mean that he won’t find you again.” 

Remy’s smile disappeared and he nodded again. 

“And, last but not least, you treat these people with respect. They will not hurt you in any way and I don’t want you to hurt any of them. Understood?” 

The boy nodded one last time, before he leaned closer to the feral. 

“What be their names?” 

“Are.” 

Remy frowned. 

“What are their names?” 

“Why don’t you ask them yourself.” 

He flipped Remy around again, ignoring the slight yelp from the boy. 

“What b... are your names?” 

They went around the room, Remy nodding after each name. Then he turned his head towards Warren. 

“Monsieur Ange? Can we go outside?” 

Warren smiled and nodded. He stood up and the boy jumped off Victor’s knee, quickly walking over to Warren and grabbing his hand. Then he glanced over to Betsy and carefully stretched his other hand out towards her. With a smile, she stood up and grabbed it. Together, the three of them walked out of the room. Ororo smiled after them. 

“If we can’t change him back, I think I know who will want to adopt Remy.” 


	3. You Promised!

They walked outside and Remy’s eyes widened when he noticed the swings. Warren smiled at that. 

“You wanna try the swings?” 

Remy nodded quickly and ran over to the playground that had been set up for the younger students. He jumped up on the swing and started moving his legs around. Nothing happened and he frowned. Warren was walking over to help him, when Betsy grabbed his hand and shook her head.  _ ‘Wait.’ _ They watched as Remy got off the swing, walked around it and then sat down again. He leaned his whole body back and then forward again. The swing started to move and he smiled widely. Betsy let go of Warrens hand and nodded. He walked over to Remy and asked: 

“You want some more push?” 

He nodded quickly and Warren started pushing him. Quickly, the swing gained speed and height. Remy started laughing when he was at the highest points. Betsy smiled at them. Suddenly, Remy let go of the swing and jumped out into the air. Warren gave a surprised shout, before he shot over to the boy and caught him in the air. He hugged the boy to himself and flopped his wings to keep them in the air. Remy grabbed onto his shoulders and smiled. 

“Remy wanted to fly. He knew you’d catch him.” 

Warren calmed his heart down a bit and softly landed on the ground. He put Remy on the swing again and kneeled in front of him. 

“Remy. Listen. I’m not mad at you, but I don’t want you to do something like that again. If you want me to take you for a flying tour, just ask me. But you gave me a real scare. I thought you would get hurt.” 

Remy’s eyes widened and he quickly jumped off the swing and moved forward to hug the mutant. 

“Remy’s sorry. Remy didn’t want you to get scared. He won’t do that again.” 

Warren nodded and, following a sudden instinct, kissed the boy’s head. Remy froze for a second, before he hugged the mutant closer. 

“It’s alright. We’re good now.” 

He let go of the boy and grinned at him. 

“So. Do you want to go flying?” 

Remy nodded quickly and Warren stood up, picking the boy up at the same time. He spread his wings and grabbed the boy tightly. 

“Hold on tightly and, whatever happens, don’t let go.” 

Remy nodded with a smile and they both shot up into the air. On the ground, Betsy smiled after them. Warren was keeping at the level of tree tops in the beginning but, seeing the fascination on Remy’s face, he lifted even higher. Soon, Betsy was just a small dot on the ground. He stopped in mid air and pulled his legs up, bending his knees. Moving slowly, he sat Remy on his knees and smiled. 

“What do you think?” 

Remy’s eyes were shining with happiness. 

“It’s cool. Remy likes this. He likes being high in the air. But the roofs are the highest he can get. And it’s not high enough.” 

Warren’s smile paled a bit when he remembered how often Remy would sit on the roof or as high as possible on the trees. The love for heights seemed to be something he didn’t grow out of. They stayed in that position until Warren heard Betsy’s voice in his head.  _ ‘Come back down. Creed wants to talk to Remy.’  _ Warren looked over to the boy who was completely relaxed. 

“Remy? We have to go down. Betsy is calling us.” 

Remy frowned. 

“How do you… She a spook?” 

Warren nodded. 

“Yes. Betsy is a telepath. But she will not enter your head unless you give her permission.” 

After a moment, Remy nodded. 

“Remy knows. He likes Betsy.” 

Angel noticed that the boy had dropped the formal ‘madame’ and smiled. He was getting more relaxed with them and that was good. He put Remy on his hip and flew down. Betsy was standing with Creed and Logan. Warren landed next to the woman and put the boy on the ground. Remy smiled widely at her before he ran over to Victor. The feral picked him up and started walking away. Both Warren and Betsy looked at them with slight worry, but Logan stopped them from going after them. 

“Victor is on an assignment from Sinister. He needs to get back there before someone comes after him. He won’t be coming back. He said that he wanted to explain it to Remy himself.” 

They looked after the feral and noticed that Remy had started to struggle in his hold. He kicked the feral in the stomach and jumped down on the ground. Even from the distance, Warren could see that he was crying. 

“You promised!” 

Victor’s answer was silent and then Remy picked up a few small stones, charged them and threw them at him. The explosions threw him to the ground. Remy stood over him for a moment, before he rushed past him and started running towards the three mutants waiting for him. Betsy crouched down quickly and opened her arms in time for the boy to throw himself at her. Seconds later, he was crying uncontrollably into her shoulder. She stood up, lifting him at the same time and started walking towards the house. Warren was going to go to Creed, but Betsy’s soft voice stopped him.  _ ‘Warren. Come with us. He will need you.’  _ He threw a murderous glare at the feral and quickly caught up with his girlfriend. He put his hand on Remy’s back and put one of his wings around Betsy’s shoulders. One of Remy’s hands let go of the woman’s shoulder and grabbed a few feathers. Together, they walked into the house where they were met by Jean and Scott. The two looked at the boy and wanted to say something, but Warren shook his head, before he pulled Betsy and Remy into a hug. His wings enveloped them and he closed his eyes. Suddenly, Betsy turned her head slightly towards Remy, her eyes wide. The boy looked at her hesitantly, so she smiled and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. He smiled back and buried his face in her shoulder again.  _ ‘Remy just let me in through his shields.’  _ Warren smiled. The boy trusted them and that was a good thing. They spent the next two minutes just standing that way, before Remy seemed to calm down. Meanwhile, Logan had reentered the house. He smiled at the three mutants and passed them without a word, following Jean and Scott to the kitchen. They had already changed out of their uniforms while he had been outside, waiting for Angel and Remy to get down on the ground. Remy sniffed a few times and then looked up. 

“Will you leave Remy too when you get bored?” 

Warren’s arms tightened around them, but it was Betsy who answered. 

“No, sweetheart. We won’t leave you. I swear.” 

Remy smiled softly. 

“Remy believes you. You don’t lie to Remy.” 

Betsy smiled back, before she looked up at Warren. 

“Warren, darling, mind letting us go? It’s getting quite warm under all those feathers.” 

Warren laughed and let them go. 

“Jean has dinner ready if you’re hungry.” 

Remy nodded. 

“Oui. Remy be hungry.” 

“Am. And ‘I’ not ‘Remy’.” 

The boy nodded. 

“I am hungry.” 

Betsy smiled again. 

“We’ll have to work on your speech. Okay?” 

Remy nodded quickly. 

“Remy… I want to be better.” 

Betsy put him on the ground and grabbed his hand. Almost automatically, his other hand grabbed Warren’s hand. The two older mutants smiled at him, while he led them to where he remembered the kitchen was. They entered it and were met with smiles from everyone. Warren looked around and, noticing that everyone had already changed out of their uniforms, he crouched down next to Remy. 

“Remy. Can you stay here with the others? Me and Betsy have to go shower and change out of these uniforms. We’ll be back in around 15 minutes. That okey?” 

Remy hesitated, before he nodded. Warren kissed the top of his head, ignoring the surprised looks it earned him from the others. 

“We’ll be back. Promise.” 

Remy nodded again and walked over to Logan. Betsy and Warren quickly left the room. 

“Can Re… I sit here, monsieur?” 

Logan nodded and helped the boy climb onto the chair. 

“You can drop the monsieur and madame around here, kid. We’re all your friends. You can use our first names.” 

Remy looked around the room and everyone nodded at him. He hesitated, before he turned his head towards the professor. 

“Is it okay if Remy calls you professeur?” 

Xavier nodded with a smile. 

“Of course, Remy.” 

Jean lifted a big bowl over to the table and put it in the middle. Everyone started pouring soup for themselves, until it came to Remy. He stretched out, but couldn’t reach to the middle of the table. Right then, the door opened and Warren walked inside. His wings were still slightly damp. He smiled and sat down next to Remy. 

“Need some help?” 

Remy nodded and gave the ladle to Warren. Angel poured a full bowl for the boy, before he poured his own full and passed the ladle to Bobby. Remy sniffed at the food, before he picked his spoon up and tasted a bit. He smiled and looked up at Jean. 

“This be really good.” 

“Is.” 

He nodded. 

“This is really good. Merci.” 

Jean smiled back at him. 

“I’m happy you like it.” 

They ate in silence for another five minutes, before Betsy arrived. She smiled at Remy, before she sat down next to Warren and started eating. 

“Do you three have any plans for later today?” 

Warren turned to Scott and nodded. 

“Yeah. I was thinking that me, Betsy and Remy would go out shopping. Buy him some more clothes and maybe a few toys.” 

Remy choked on his food. He started coughing and Warren quickly hit him on the back a few times. 

“Are you alright?” 

Remy looked up at him and nodded, being able to breathe again. 

“Remy’s sorry. But Remy’s not used to people wanting to buy him toys. He don’t want be a problem.” 

Betsy smiled. 

“You don’t have to worry about that, Remy. We want to give you some nice things. And you will NEVER be a problem.” 

Remy looked at her with wide eyes, before his mouth stretched out in a wide smile. Then he turned to the others and tilted his head. 

“Are you all mutants?” 

Everyone nodded and, seeing the boy’s curious gaze, they started to explain what their mutations were. Remy seemed to get slightly worried about there being two more telepaths and Betsy heard his careful voice in her head.  _ ‘Will the other spooks try to get into Remy’s head?’  _ She decided to answer out loud. 

“No, sweetheart. Neither the professor or Jean will try to get into your head without your permission.” 

And, while both Jean and Xavier started to calm the boy and explain that they would never do that, she sent out a quick message to everyone except for Remy and Warren.  _ ‘Remy let me into his head.’  _ Everyone, especially Jean and Xavier were shocked, but they didn’t show it. The rest of the dinner was spent on small talk about powers. 


	4. Sleep

Jean had managed to find a black jacket that fit Remy and a pair of comfortable shoes. Xavier had explained that they were most probably his old ones. Fully clothed, Remy got into the car with Warren and Betsy. The woman was driving, while Warren and Remy took up the backseat. All the way to the mall, Remy was looking out through the window with slight awe. When Betsy parked, he was the first one out of the car, but he took a step back when he noticed how many people were around them. Warren climbed out behind him and grabbed the boy’s hand, ignoring the looks his wings got. Betsy locked the car and grabbed Remy’s other hand and they started walking towards the clothing shops. But then Warren suddenly noticed something and grinned. 

“Hey, Remy. How would you like some ice cream before we start shopping?” 

The boy looked up at him with hopeful eyes. 

“We can have ice cream?” 

Warren nodded. 

“Sure. Come on.” 

They walked over to the ice cream store and moved to stand in the line. A teenage boy looked at them and snorted. 

“Look at that. You mutie scum shouldn’t be allowed around here. Especially not ones that look like him. Little demon spawn.” 

Remy’s eyes widened and he pressed himself closer to Warren, who put a wing around him, shielding him from the others. But, before any of the mutants managed to answer, a pink umbrella suddenly fell onto the teenager’s head. An old lady lifted it up and whacked him again. 

“Get out of here. Youth like you is the exact reason why there will never be peace between us and mutants. And before you try saying anything more, better think it through, because I know who your mother is and I can easily tell her what you and those friends of yours did last sunday.” 

The boy paled and quickly hurried out of the store. The woman’s eyes softened and she kneeled down in front of the hidden Remy. 

“Sweetie?” 

Remy’s head peaked out from behind the feathers. She looked him straight in the eyes and smiled. 

“Don’t listen to what he said. Your eyes are different, but that doesn’t make them ugly. And don’t listen to him about you being a demon’s spawn. You see, I’m a believing woman. And I see no evil in you.” 

Very slowly, Remy walked out from behind the wing and, after a few seconds of hesitation, he hugged the woman. 

“Merci, madame.” 

The woman smiled. 

“A french gentleman.” 

Remy let go of her and shook his head. 

“Non. Remy be…” 

He glanced up to Betsy. 

“I am.” 

He nodded and looked at the woman again.

“I am cajun.” 

“Oh. My apologies. Well, I better get going. Have a nice day, young monsieur.” 

Remy smiled at her and moved back to grab Betsy’s hand, while Warren helped the old woman stand up again. She gave them all another smile, before she walked away. They waited in the line a bit more, before it was their turn. Warren glanced at the boy and quickly made up his mind. 

“We’ll take three flavours each.” 

Remy’s eyes shone up when he heard that. Betsy quickly chose her favorites: strawberry, cherry and raspberry. Warren went classical strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. Then he lifted Remy up so that the boy could see all the different flavors. The boy seemed to think very hard before he pointed at the cookie dough one. But then he seemed to not know what to choose. His eyes swept over the pictures again and then he smiled widely. 

“Banana Split and Smarties.” 

The man quickly put the flavors in a small bowl and looked at the boy. 

“Do you want any sauce?” 

Remy, who was totally into the fun now, nodded his head. 

“Oui. Chocolate.” 

“And any sprinkles?” 

Remy glanced up to Warren and the man smiled. 

“It’s alright. You can choose whatever you want.” 

The boy’s eyes widened and he turned to all the sprinkles while the man looked at Warren with curiosity. He mouthed ‘adopted’ and Warren nodded. The man smiled softly before he looked back at the boy. 

“Um. The rainbow sprinkles.” 

The man quickly finished Remy’s bowl and then put some whipped cream on it and a cookie on top. Warren passed over his card and, just minutes later, they were sitting at a table outside, Remy munching happily on his ice cream. He had chocolate sauce all over his mouth and a few sprinkles had glued themselves to it. He and Warren finished almost at the same time, while Betsy just rolled her eyes and kept eating her ice cream at a much slower pace. Warren smiled at the boy. 

“You liked that?” 

Remy nodded. 

“Oui. It was very good. Merci.” 

He tried to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand but ended up making even more mess. Warren laughed quietly at his expression. 

“Come on. There is a bathroom there. Let’s get you cleaned up a bit, before we go shopping.” 

Remy jumped out of his seat and grabbed Warren’s hand. They were back a few minutes later, and Betsy stood up, her dessert finished. 

“Are my boys ready?” 

Remy nodded his head and grabbed her hand with his free one. They said thank you to the seller and left. Betsy dragged them to a clothing store first and started picking up clothes for Remy to try. Half an hour later, she ushered Remy into the changing room. He tried his way through the clothes. Some of them, Betsy said no to, other Remy said he didn’t feel comfortable in. In the end, they settled for three pairs of jeans, five black shirts with card prints on, two pairs of pj’s and a coat that looked very much like the one adult Remy used to wear. Warren was left with carrying the clothes while Remy and Betsy quickly got some underwear and socks. Warren paid for the clothes and ended up having to carry all the bags. Next was the shoe store. Remy picked out a pair of black boots and seemed to be happy, but Betsy managed to convince him that he would need something more comfortable for when he was in the house. They chose out a pair of converse and then Betsy grabbed a pair of shoes that she had noticed when she walked inside. After getting a nod from both Warren and Remy, she smiled and added them to their things. After that was paid, and Warren had even more bags to carry, they decided to go to the toy store. Remy’s eyes widened as soon as they entered. He looked at everything with excitement but, every time Warren asked if he wanted to have it, the boy would just shake his head. They came to the stuffed animals and Remy was immediately dragged to where the cats were. He looked at them all very carefully before he picked out a small grey kitten with green eyes. 

“Can Remy have this one?” 

Warren smiled at him. 

“Of course. You can have anything you want. So just go mad. We’ll wait for you here.” 

The boy looked at him for a long moment, almost as if he was looking for a sign for lies, but then he smiled and ran off towards the toys again. Warren turned to Betsy. The woman was watching him with a smile. 

“I don’t think I have to read your mind to know what you’re thinking.” 

Warren sighed. 

“It’s just that… He didn’t have a childhood. Maybe we could give it to him. Even if he doesn’t remember it once he’s changed back.” 

Betsy leaned against one of the shelves. 

“And if Hank can’t find a way to turn him back?” 

Warren looked at her with a small smile. 

“I know we’ve both been thinking about the same thing.” 

She nodded. 

“Yes. I would love to adopt him.” 

Warren grabbed her hand. 

“If Hank can’t find anything, we’ll do that. And he’ll stay with us for now. He trusts us.” 

They didn’t manage to say more, because Remy was running back to them. Warren crouched down when he noticed that the boy was holding a few things. 

“Hey again. What have you found there?” 

Remy showed him his treasures with a smile. There was the small gray cat, a package of playing cards with diamonds on the backsides and a model ship with 250 parts. Underneath it all was a small book. Remy noticed that he was looking at it and frowned. 

“Remy can’t read very well, but he likes the pictures and he thought that maybe we could read it together.” 

He turned his hopeful eyes up to Warren and the mutant nodded. 

“Of course we can. What book did you chose?” 

Remy pulled it out and stretched it out to him. Warren grabbed it and read the title out loud. 

“The Little Prince.” 

He smiled. 

“I have read this book before. It’s very good.” 

Remy grinned and they payed quickly, before making their way to the car.  _ ‘Warren. I think Remy is getting tired.’  _ Very real, Remy was starting to drag his feet after him. Betsy leaned down and picked him up. His head fell on her shoulder and he was visibly struggling to keep his eyes open. Warren loaded their things into the trunk of the car and then opened the back dorr. Betsy strapped Remy into his seat and the boy smiled at her. She kissed his forehead and whispered softly: 

“Sleep, sweetheart.” 

She got in behind the wheel while Warren took the passenger seat this time. They haven’t even pulled out of the parking lot, before Remy was asleep. They stayed silent all the way back to the mansion, each of them deep in their thoughts. Betsy parked outside the mansion and lifted out the sleeping boy, while Warren grabbed the shopping bags. Jean was already waiting for them in the door. She smiled seeing the boy and pointed towards the living room. Betsy nodded in agreement. Remy hadn’t been on any of the upper levels so it was best to let him sleep where he had been before and wouldn’t be scared to wake up.


	5. Anger And Hate

Remy woke up on something very comfortable and fear gripped him. The only times he woke up comfortable was when his clients let him stay the night at their house. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around. The room he was in seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place it anywhere. Seeing that he was alone, he sat up and took a deep breath. Maybe he would be able to get out of here before anyone noticed him. He stood up and started heading towards the door, when his eyes fell on a jacket that was hanging on one of the chairs. Not hearing anything from the rest of the house, he walked over to the cloth and quickly looked through the pockets. He found a wallet, some keys and a candy wrapper. Leaving the wrapper and keys alone, he opened the wallet and his eyes shone with excitement when he saw how much money was in it. Quickly, he pulled it all out and put it in his own pocket, before dropping the wallet back into the jacket. With a smile, he turned back to the door, only to freeze when he noticed that someone was standing there. The big man was standing with a frown on his face and Remy knew that he was in deep trouble. 

 

                                                                    ********

 

Logan was sitting in the kitchen with the others, when a sudden wave of panic hit them. Both Warren and Betsy had immediately wanted to rush into the living room where they had left Remy, but the feral stopped them. Something wasn’t right and he wanted to see what it was before they barged in. Moving as quietly as they could, they made their way to the living room and opened the door. What they saw shocked them. Instead of the six year old Remy they had left there, they saw a nine or ten year old boy standing over Warren’s jacket. The boy had pulled the wallet out and was looking through the contents, before he pulled all the money out and pocketed it. Logan showed them that they should stay where they were and then walked inside the room. He waited in silence while the boy put the wallet back and frowned when the child turned around. The boy froze and looked at him with big eyes. They stood in silence for almost two minutes, before Logan decided to speak up. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” 

A bit of a growl got into his voice and the boy’s expression went from shocked and fearful, to hateful. His red and black eyes narrowed and his right hand closed into a fist. 

“You’re like him, aren’t you? Like Creed.” 

Logan felt slight surprise, considering how the boy had reacted to Creed when he was younger. Still, he nodded, remembering how the younger Remy had managed to tell when they were lying. Outside the door, the others noticed that Remy was now speaking much cleaner.

“Yeah. I’m a feral like Creed.” 

The boy glanced around the room. 

“Is he here?” 

Logan tilted his head. 

“And why are you asking?” 

“Because I’m going to kill him.” 

The answer came without a seconds thought and, had Logan been anyone else, would have shocked him. But he had been around much in his life, and decided to go along with what the boy was saying. This was still not the Remy he was used to. The anger was literally oozing out of him and messing with his senses. 

“Well, you might wanna get in line. You’re not the only one here who wants to kill him.” 

Remy frowned slightly, but his hate didn’t disappear. 

“Who else wants him dead?” 

“Me.” 

That took him aback. He looked around again, this time paying attention to all the details in the room. 

“You seem to live well here. Why would you want to kill Creed? Did he kill your family member? Steal something of yours?” 

Logan smirked. 

“If I was killing people who stole from me, we wouldn’t be standing here speaking.” 

Remy paled slightly but didn’t move from his spot. 

“You have enough money. Remy needs it.” 

“And might I ask who ‘Remy’ is?” 

The boy frowned slightly. 

“I… My name is Remy.” 

Logan nodded. 

“Well then, Remy. To answer your previous question, Creed is my brother. He’s on the run right now, working for someone very bad. It’s my job to put him down if he goes too far in what he does.” 

Remy snorted. 

“Goes too far? He’s already crossed that line. Are those people outside the door working with you? Or do they just like to eavesdrop?” 

Logan raised his eyebrows. This boy was strange. 

“They work with me. But how did you know about them?” 

Remy rolled his eyes and walked over to the armchair, sitting down comfortably when he didn’t notice any actual threatening feelings from anyone. 

“I can feel through my kinetic abilities. I can sense when something is moving. I guess I was just a bit out of it, when I let you sneak up on me like that. Now. Let’s talk about something we’re both interested in. Where do we find Creed and how do we kill him.” 

The cold and ruthless look in his eyes was enough to make even Logan feel unnerved. He motioned the others to come in and they did. Remy’s eyes widened slightly when he noticed Warren’s wings, but then he went back to his hateful state. 

“If any of you are spooks, I would advise you not to try anything. I already put one spook in a coma when he tried meddling with my head. I can do that again.” 

Jean, Xavier and Betsy exchanged worried looks. They had never heard of anyone being put in a coma because he or she tried to get into someone’s brain. Both Jean and Betsy had tried getting into Remy’s head before and, except for the walls, they never encountered anything. The professor wheeled a bit closer to the boy, but quickly backed away when he noticed how Remy’s hand twitched towards his pocket. A move they all had learned to associate with something exploding in a very close future. 

“Remy. No one here will hurt you.” 

The boy snorted again and Logan rolled his eyes, sitting down heavily on the couch. 

“Don’t bother, Chuck. He doesn’t care about that. All he cares about right now, is killing Creed. Which brings me to my next question. What did Creed do, to make you want him dead. Did he kill your family member? Steal something of yours?” 

He put on a mock cajun accent on the two last questions, and Remy smiled slightly. 

“He betrayed me, sold me around and plotted to kidnap me. Then he killed the people I considered family at the time and stole a box that had belonged to my mother. That’s what he did. Now I want my property back and him dead.” 

While the other X-Men were getting over their shock, Logan shook his head. 

“You want your property back. That’s funny, coming from a thief.” 

Remy’s hand twitched again, but Logan just rolled his eyes. 

“You try anything with those powers of yours, and I’ll gut you like a fish. Understood? I’m a feral. Your empathy tricks won’t work that well on me. At least not well enough to stop me.” 

Everyone turned to Logan with horrified expressions. But the boy just nodded. 

“Yeah. I understand.” 

Very slowly, he pulled the money out of his pocket and put it on the armchair. 

“You have a kitchen here? I’m hungry.” 

Logan nodded. 

“At the end of the hall. Don’t try any tricks. I’ll be able to hear you.” 

The boy just shrugged and walked out. Seeing that the others were opening their mouths, Logan put his hand up to quiet them. He waited until he heard the boy move around in the the kitchen, before he put his hand down and nodded. 

“Alright.” 

Immediately, everyone started to talk. 

“How could you…?!” 

“He’s just a child…!” 

“Why did you…?!” 

“Alright, QUIET!” 

Everyone silenced at his outburst. 

“Look. That kid in there is not the little boy we met earlier. And he is not the Remy we know. Creed really messed him up. He won’t react well to any of you trying to be nice to him. As I said, all he cares about is killing Creed. We need to make sure that he stays here until he grows up again.” 

Hank sat down heavily. 

“Do you think that’s how it works? He grows up a few years at a time until he gets back to his age?” 

Logan shrugged. 

“How am I supposed to know? You’re the doctor.” 

Everyone looked at Hank with questioning looks. The feral shook his head. 

“I don’t have any answers for you. I tried to look into what happened but I could not come up with any idea as to how change him back or how he got deaged in the first place. As it looks right now, the smartest thing to do would be to wait and try to keep Remy in the mansion until he gets back to his real age. He…” 

Logan quickly interrupted him. 

“He’s coming back. Just let me handle him.” 

Everyone nodded, although Betsy, Warren, Jean and Xavier looked extremely troubled while they did it. 


	6. Remy's Box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Remy walked into the room with a beer in his hand. Jean was opening her mouth to say something about that, but Logan beat her to it. 

“What do you think you’re doing with that?” 

Remy shrugged. 

“I’m drinking. What does it look like?” 

Logan stood up and walked over to the boy. Remy looked up at him, the hate not leaving his eyes for even a second. He stood absolutely still even when the feral stopped right in front of him. But, when Logan stretched his hand out to grab the alcohol, he moved with shocking speed and stopped a few steps away from Logan. 

“Listen, bub. Either you give me that bottle peacefully, or I’ll use force.” 

Remy smirked. 

“Non. You won’t. That spook won’t let you. She’s worried about me.” 

He nodded towards Betsy, not moving his eyes from Logan. 

“And that crippled spook won’t let you either. He’s way too calm.” 

Xavier frowned. 

“Remy. How do you know that Betsy and I are telepaths?” 

The boy shrugged. 

“You looked at each other the first time I mentioned spooks. I’m not stupid.” 

He turned back to Logan when he noticed irritation coming off of the feral. A growl made him take a small step back. 

“Give me the damn bottle.” 

“Non.” 

Logan’s claws popped out and Remy jumped slightly. His eyes widened and he took a step towards the feral again. 

“What are those?” 

Logan stretched his hand out towards the boy, his claws still out. Very slowly, Remy walked over to him and stretched the bottle out. Logan grabbed it, but didn’t pull his claws back in. The boy seemed fascinated by them. He stretched his hand out, but it stopped on the way to Logan’s and he glanced up. 

“May I?” 

Logan nodded and frowned when the boy started to run his fingers along the metal. He was even more surprised when he noticed that a bit of the hate that Remy was projecting disappeared. 

“They would do.” 

“Would do for what?” 

Remy looked up. 

“For cutting off his head.” 

Logan growled and grabbed the boy’s wrist. Remy flinched and tried to move away, but couldn’t pull away from the feral. 

“Listen now, kid. I don’t like being thought of as a weapon. Understand?” 

Remy nodded quickly and moved away as soon as Logan let go of him. They stood staring at each other, until Warren walked forward a bit. Remy’s eyes widened once again, when he saw the wings. Making it look natural, he slightly shifted his wings and took another step towards the boy. 

“Remy? Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?” 

The cajun rolled his eyes. 

“I’m not a small child. You can drop that tone.” 

“And you could show a bit more respect to us.” 

Remy looked at Rogue with shock and disbelief. 

“Respect? Why?” 

“Because we found you stealing from our house. We could hurt you for that. Or give you away to the government.” 

She added the last one just to see his reaction and was slightly surprised when he started to quickly shake his head. 

“Non. Remy will be good.”

She nodded. 

“Good. Now, why don’t you tell us a bit more about yourself.” 

Remy shook his head again. 

“Non.” 

Logan sighed heavily. 

“Alright. Come with me.” 

He walked out of the room and smirked slightly when he noticed that the boy followed him without a seconds thought. He walked up the stairs and opened the door to his room. Without a word, Remy walked inside and looked around. He was unnaturally pale and Logan frowned. 

“Hey. You alright kid?” 

Remy took a deep breath and nodded. 

“Oui.” 

His voice sounded almost as if he had given up. 

“How do you want Remy?” 

Logan’s eyes widened and he pulled his claws in, before he crouched down in front of the boy. 

“Remy. I will not touch you like that. I swear.” 

Remy looked up at him with slight surprise. 

“But…” 

He sounded so small and weak that Logan felt shock. It was almost as if this was a completely different child. 

“No. No buts. I would never do that to a child. Understand?” 

Slowly, Remy nodded. 

“Alright. Now go sit on the bed. I’ll find some cards to play with and then we can talk, alright?” 

Remy frowned. 

“How did you know I like to play?” 

Logan smirked. 

“Call it intuition.” 

He stood up and pointed towards the bed, before he walked out. He walked to Remy’s room, straight across from his. In the beginning, he had been slightly surprised when the cajun had chosen that room. All the others had their rooms in an entirely different part of the mansion. But the cajun had been very quick to take the room closest to him. He opened the door and walked inside. Remy’s room was a mess, like usual. Making sure not to move anything, he walked over to the bedside table and opened the top drawer. A smile appeared on his face when he saw seven different packages of cards and two packages of cigarettes. He sniffed in the air and shook his head when he felt a very faint smell of smoke. Remy would get in so much trouble if someone found out that he was smoking inside the school. He leaned down to grab one of the packages of cards, when he heard slight movement behind him. He turned around and frowned when he saw Remy standing in the doorway. The boy was looking around the room with interest. 

“Who’s room is this?” 

“My friend's. He calls himself Gambit.” 

The boy walked further inside. 

“Is he here?” 

Logan hesitated only for a second before answering. 

“No.” 

Remy didn’t call him out on the lie and he realized that he wasn’t lying at all. This wasn’t Gambit. This was still Remy.

“I like his style.” 

Then he noticed something that was on one of the shelves and froze. Logan looked there and frowned when he noticed what the boy was staring at. It was a small box that had always stood on Remy’s shelf. The one time Bobby had tried to touch it, Remy went mad and threw him out through the window. Ever since then, no one but Logan dared to walk into the cajuns room or touch any of his stuff. 

“Remy?” 

The boy snapped out of it and turned to him with big eyes. 

“What is that box doing here?” 

Logan shrugged. 

“It’s Gambit's. He had it when he came here. I never asked him about it. Why?” 

Remy turned to the shelf again. 

“That’s my mother's box. She kept her most precious things in it. The silver necklace she got when she was six. A picture of me and her. A card from someone called Essex. It said ‘get well soon’. I guess he was her doctor.” 

And then, before Logan could say anything, he just continued. 

“She died, you know. When I was two weeks. I was kidnapped from the hospital and raised on the streets. I don’t remember much from that time. But I remember Creed finding me and starting to sell me around. In the beginning he acted almost as if he had known me from before. But that must’ve been his way of getting close to me. I got away from him. Found a woman who had known my mother. She gave me that box. And a home. But Creed took it all away.” 

He walked over to the shelf and gently pulled his fingers over the lid of the box. Logan shifted slightly. 

“Remy? Maybe it would be best if you leave the box here for now. I know that it belongs to you, but Gambit gets very mad when anyone touches it. Very, very mad. One time he threw a guy out through the window, because he tried to see what’s inside of it. I’m sure that he won’t have any trouble with you having it once he finds out who you are.” 

Very slowly, Remy pulled his fingers away from the box. 

“Does he know Creed?” 

Logan hesitated. Honestly, he didn’t know. Adult Remy never brought up the other feral. And if they were talking about him, he seemed almost indifferent. 

“I don’t know. But I promise you that he is not his friend.” 

Remy tilted his head. 

“How can you be so sure?” 

“Because I walked in on him showering one time after training. And he has five deep scratches across his chest. Creed’s signature mark.” 

Remy paled considerably and swayed a bit. 

“He… He survived… How?” 

He was still swaying, so Logan took a step towards him. 

“Remy?” 

The boy looked over at him with wide eyes. His heart was pounding in his chest and he had started to shake. Suddenly, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed. Logan managed to catch him in the last second. He lifted the boy up and sighed. This would not be easy. He carried him over to his own room and put him on the bed. Last time, Remy had slept around two hours before he woke up changed. That would give him enough time to talk to the others. He left the door to his room slightly ajar, but made sure to lock Remy’s room with the spare key he had gotten from the cajun. With a deep sigh, he started walking downstairs to where the rest of the team was still in the living room. 


	7. Same Side

As soon as he stepped into the living room Betsy was on him. 

“Where is he?” 

“In my room. Kid passed out.” 

Warren’s wings spread out warningly. 

“What?” 

Logan rolled his eyes and flopped down on one of the chairs, grabbing the beer Remy had brought. He took a drink and shook his head. 

“Calm down Warren. I didn’t do anything to him.” 

Then he turned to Bobby. 

“Do you remember that time when Remy threw you out through his window?”

Bobby flinched slightly. 

“Yeah. All because of that stupid box of his.” 

Rogue’s eyes widened slightly. 

“Wait. His box. Is that the same box he said Creed had stolen?” 

Logan nodded. 

“Yeah. Remy saw it and freaked out. I don’t know what happened with him, but he passed out. I put him in my room.” 

Xavier nodded. 

“I guess we’ll have to wait for now.” 

Jean leaned towards Logan. 

“Did he tell you anything more about why he hates Creed all of a sudden?” 

Logan hesitated. He was unsure if he should tell them. If Remy would appreciate it later on, when he got back to himself. 

“Something seemed to have happened when he was younger. He doesn’t remember his childhood with Creed. He only remembers what happened with Creed after whatever made him lose his memories.” 

Scott frowned. 

“So he has amnesia?” 

Logan nodded. 

“Yeah. Something like that.” 

Bobby looked around at everyone, before he sighed. 

“What are we supposed to do now? The older he gets, the more dangerous he will be. We don’t know anything about his past.” 

They sat in silence for almost two minutes, before Logan finally spoke up. 

“If he starts acting up, leave him to me. In whatever age, he seems to be drawn to ferals. I can deal with him and, in case he flips out, I’m the one of us who can take the most damage.” 

A few of them seemed disturbed by his last comment, but no one disagreed. They all knew that it was the truth. If Remy got violent, Logan was the most likely one to survive his attack. Slowly, they all split up to do their own things. Jean and Ororo started working on something to eat for everyone. Scott, Rogue, Bobby and Xavier went to the War Room to see if they could figure out who was behind the attack that changed Remy into a child. Warren and Betsy had retired to their room, saying that they needed some time alone. Hank had hidden away in his lab again. Logan, not knowing what else to do, went back into Remy’s room. He looked around and shook his head when he noticed the mess. Moving slowly, he picked up all the dirty clothes, checked the pockets and put all the lockpicks and cards he found on the bed. Then he went down to the basement and put all the clothes in one of the washing machines. Looking at the moving clothes, he got a sudden flashback to a few weeks after Remy moved into the mansion. 

_ ‘Logan was walking through the mansion, trying to find the source of a bad smell that he had been feeling since a few days earlier. No one else had felt anything so he didn’t understand what it could be. His nose led him down to the basement and he stopped outside the washing room. Remy was standing in front of one of the washing machines, just staring at it. His head was slightly tilted to the side and, when Logan strained himself to hear, he noticed that the cajun was cursing in a mix of french and english. Suddenly, the boy sighed and turned around.  _

_ “You having fun, watching this cajun’s misery?”  _

_ Logan shrugged and walked inside.  _

_ “Misery? Not really. But I do wonder where that smell is coming from.”  _

_ Remy looked down and sighed again.  _

_ “That would be me. I haven’t been able to wash my clothes since I moved here. I’m worried that Jean would lynch me if I went down to the lake to wash it or did it in the sink.”  _

_ Logan frowned.  _

_ “And what’s wrong with the washing machine? Don’t tell me the kids did something to them again. Last time it took me two days to take them all apart and put them back together.”  _

_ Remy seemed a bit ashamed when he shook his head.  _

_ “Non. Not broken. It’s just… I've never used one of them.”  _

_ Logan was slightly surprised, but didn’t let it show.  _

_ “Alright. Come on. I’ll show you.”  _

_ He showed him how to fill the machine and then smirked when a thought struck him.  _

_ “Sit on top of it.”  _

_ Remy looked at him with a questioning look.  _

_ “Trust me.”  _

_ Very slowly, Remy nodded and jumped up onto the machine. Logan started it and laughed when he noticed Remy’s shock as it started to vibrate under him. Remy glared at him for a few seconds, before his eyes widened slightly and his whole body relaxed.  _

_ “This is actually nice.”  _

_ Logan frowned again, before he nodded. He had seen the boy often sit and rock back and forth so he guessed that the movement somehow calmed him down. _

_ “Tell you what. Every wednesday, you get all your dirty laundry and come down here at seven pm. I’ll start the machines up and you can have some time for yourself. How about that?”  _

_ Remy looked at him with sudden suspicion.  _

_ “And if Remy accepts, what do you want in return?”  _

_ Logan felt slight worry when he heard that, but chose to not show it. He also chose to ignore the sudden change to third person form. He had noticed the boy doing it from time to time. _

_ “Nothing. We’re on the same side here.”  _

_ Remy tilted his head.  _

_ “And if Remy tells you that he’s done bad things in his past?”  _

_ Logan shrugged.  _

_ “I would tell you that there is no way you’ve done anything worse than what I’ve done in my past. We’re on the same side, Remy.”  _

_ And the cajun relaxed again, a small smile appearing on his face.  _

_ “D’accord.”  _

_ Logan nodded and left the room, feeling that the boy needed some time to process their talk.  _

The feral shook his head with a fond smile. He had felt an odd connection with the cajun, however annoying the kid got. From the way he was acting and talking, he understood that he had been through much in his life. Probably not as much as Logan himself, but there was still that pain and almost hopelessness in his eyes that Logan felt a need to help him. He knew how he had felt when he was first taken into the mansion. When there was no one who understood him. He had never been a team player, but the X-Men had taught him that being alone wasn’t always the best option. Now, he was going to show the boy that too. Slowly, he started making his way upstairs. He needed to check on the kid, before anyone decided to try to get into his room and wake him up. When he got to his floor, his senses picked up quickened heartbeat and a slight wave of panic hit him. It wasn’t his own, so he quickened his pace, knowing that Remy was most probably projecting. He almost ran into his room and had to duck for a charged pencil that came flying towards him. Remy was crouched next to the bed, a wild look in his eyes. Logan raised his hands. 

“Hey. Calm down bub. I’m not an enemy.” 

He let his eyes fly over the boy, before settling on his odd eyes. It seemed that Remy had aged another four years. He looked to be around 13. His hair was shoulder long and he had filled out a bit more, although he was still too thin. The clothes had grown with him and Logan was thankful for that. If the boy had been naked, this would have been so much worse. 

“Who are you?” 

Logan was slightly shocked. The nine year old Remy had spoken with an accent but not this much. This accent was much thicker, almost to the point of being hard to understand. 

“My name is Logan. I’m a mutant. Like you.” 

He was using his calmest tone, understanding that the anger he used against the younger Remy would not work well on this one. The kid tilted his head slightly. 

“And where am I?” 

“You’re at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. This is a school for mutants.” 

For a moment, the boy looked put off. Then he seemed to collect himself. 

“How did I end up here? Did mon pere send me here?” 

Logan was going to nod, seeing that it would be the easiest explanation, but then he remembered Remy knowing when they lied. 

“You’ve lived here for some time now. You were with us on a mission and got knocked out. So we brought you back here.” 

“A mission? You said this was a school.” 

The feral nodded. 

“Yeah. It is. But we’re also running a team of mutants who help the world. You’re on the team.” 

The boy frowned and sat down on the bed. Logan noticed that he seemed more relaxed than the younger version of him. And, most importantly, there was no hate or anger radiating from him. 

“I don’t remember anything.” 

Very slowly, the feral walked over to him and sat down next to him. 

“You might have hit your head when you got knocked out. I don’t know. I’m not the doctor here.” 

“This is not my room, right?” 

Logan raised his eyebrows. 

“Why do you think that?” 

“Not really my style.” 

The kid was smart, he gave him that. 

“Yeah, you’re right. This is my room.” 

Remy’s head snapped over to him with suspicion all over his face. 

“And why am I in your room?” 

Logan did his best to share some calmness with the boy, but it seemed that it wasn’t working as well as he had hoped it would. 

“You were hurt, I took you here so that you could get well without one of the others running in and disturbing you. We’re on the same side here, Remy.” 

The boy seemed to relax again. 

“Come on. Let’s get you something to eat. You must be starving.” 

Remy nodded and stood up. As they made their way downstairs, Logan noticed that Remy was keeping close to him. 


	8. Ace Of Spades

They walked into the kitchen and Logan felt relief when he noticed that everyone was already there. He had notified Jean about Remy and asked her to tell everyone how things were. Remy’s eyes widened slightly when he noticed Warren and the winged mutant smiled. 

“Hey, Remy. You hungry?” 

The boy nodded, glancing around the room as he did it. Ororo helped Jean move sandwitches to the table and everyone sat down. Remy ended up between Xavier and Jean. He started eating slowly, his eyes moving around all the time. After a few minutes of silence, Logan rolled his eyes. 

“Alright. You have questions, right?” 

Remy nodded his head. 

“Oui. I don’t remember any of you.” 

Jean smiled at him. 

“So stupid of us. Why don’t we go around the table and tell you a bit about ourselves.” 

Everyone nodded and Logan started. 

“Logan. I’m a feral.” 

Remy’s eyes widened, but other than that he didn’t react. Logan filed that away for later, while they moved on to the next person. 

“I’m Ororo. I can control the weather.”

“I’m Rogue. I can drain other people’s energy.” 

“Bobby. I can turn to ice and create ice.” 

“Warren. I can fly.” 

“My name is Betsy. I’m a telepath.” 

Remy shot up from his chair and jumped over to the other side of the room, clutching a glowing knife. 

“Non. I would never… Pere would never send me to spooks. Why am I here?” 

Logan stood up, grateful when the others didn’t move from their spots. 

“Calm down, bub. I told you the truth. You were on a mission with us and got knocked out. I swear. You’ve been living with us for some time now. You’re friends with Betsy.” 

“You’re lying.” 

The feral snorted. 

“Yeah. Maybe I overdid it a bit. You and Betsy are not trying to kill each other. Her, Jean and Professor Xavier are all telepaths. But they would never hurt you. You gotta believe me.” 

They all noticed how Remy seemed to be torn apart inside. It was almost as if he wanted to believe them, but couldn’t. Then he looked up at Logan with big eyes and frowned. 

“You said that we are on the same side. You and me. What does that mean?” 

Logan didn’t want to talk about his private life in front of the others, but he needed to win the boy’s trust. He needed to make sure the kid didn’t try to run away from them. 

“That’s something we used to say. You asked me one day what I would do if I found out that you had done bad things in the past. I told you that it wouldn’t matter because we’re on the same side.” 

Very slowly, the boy nodded. He still seemed extremely suspicious, so Logan pointed towards the door. 

“Come on. Go to my room. I’ll take some sandwiches with me and come up soon. That alright?” 

Remy frowned. 

“Can I call mon pere?” 

Ororo smiled. 

“Of course.  Why didn’t we think about that earlier? Come with me.” 

She stood up and left the room. Remy glanced to Logan, before he followed her. The feral hesitated for just a second, before he went after them. In the hallway, Ororo quickly found Jean-Luc’s number and dialled. She waited for a few seconds, before another smile appeared on her face. 

“Hello. This is Ororo Munroe from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Remy had an accident on one of our missions and seems to have lost his memories of his stay here. He’d like to talk to you if you have some time.” 

She listened to what the other person was saying and then stretched the phone over to Remy. The boy grabbed it and lifted it to his ear. 

“Pere?” 

Logan moved closer to him so that he could hear what the other person was saying. 

“Remy.  What’s wrong?” 

“I don’t know, pere. Last thing I remember is fighting with Henri. But, if what they say is true, I would have lost at least a few months.” 

Jean-Luc sighed. 

“What they say is true, Remy. I sent you to that school to learn how to control your powers.” 

Logan’s eyebrows rose when he heard the lie. But Remy didn’t call his father out on it so he stayed quiet. Maybe the old thief knew how to lie to make sure he wasn’t found out. 

“Should I stay here?” 

“Oui. Stay with them. Listen to what they say, alright?” 

To Logan, it sounded almost as if the man wanted to get off the phone as soon as possible. 

“D’accord.” 

He gave the phone back to Ororo and turned back to Logan. 

“Can I go back to your room?” 

Logan nodded. 

“Sure. You want me to come with you?” 

The boy shook his head and walked away. Ororo, who had hung up the phone, looked at Logan with a questioning look. 

“Is it just me, or did he seem more sad?” 

Logan frowned. 

“Not just you.” 

“Do you think he’ll try to escape?” 

For a moment, the feral had to think about it. He had felt the sadness coming off the boy, but it was different in some way. 

“No. I don’t think so. Just give him some space for now. I think there is something going on between him and Jean-Luc. Something wrong.” 

And he went back to the kitchen, leaving Ororo standing in the middle of the hallway. 

 

                                                                 *********

 

Remy was on his way to Logan’s room, when he suddenly noticed that all the rooms were unlocked, except for the one straight across from the feral’s. He felt curiosity well up inside of him. And if he sneaked around a bit, maybe he would forget about the talk he had with Jean-Luc. His father was a good person, but there was something wrong with him. Almost as if all he cared about were his powers. He glanced at the lock and smirked. It would be so easy to get inside. He walked quickly into Logan’s room and started looking around for something to pick the lock with. A big grin appeared on his face when he noticed a few paperclips. He picked them up and went back to the door. Looking around to make sure that the corridor was still empty, he started picking the lock. Ten seconds later, the door opened and he smiled. These people were so stupid if they thought that there were thief proof locks. Moving quietly, he slinked into the room and closed the door behind him. He looked around the room and tilted his head. It was nice. A queen bed stood in one of the corners. The bedsheets were crumpled and the pillows were all over the bed, almost as if the person who lived there couldn’t stay still when he slept. There was a bedside table but there was almost nothing personal on it. Only a pack of cards and a lamp. There were books strewn all over the room. The window was bare of any curtains and locked. In the other corner stood a big wardrobe. It too was closed. With a smirk, he walked over to the bedside table and opened the top drawer. And he was shocked by what he saw. Seven decks of cards, a set of lockpicks, a knife, a pair of gloves with oddly cut fingertips and a big wad of money. He felt his fingers tingle, but didn’t touch the money. It was a thief’s drawer and he knew better than to touch the things in it. He was slightly surprised that there was another thief in the mansion, but decided to not overthink it. The room had been locked so maybe the thief hadn’t told the others. He closed the drawer again and walked over to the wardrobe. He opened it and frowned. Five black t-shirts, three pairs of black pants, one of them leather, a few bandanas and a pair of high boots. This thief didn’t seem to care too much about clothes. He closed the wardrobe again. There was nothing in it that interested him. He turned around and looked at the bookshelf on the opposite side of the room. A few books, a figure of a wolf and… Remy froze, and his eyes opened wide. His box. But, last time he saw it, it had been in Creed’s hands. Covered in Marie’s blood. Had this thief managed to steal it from Creed? Or had Creed thrown it away? Did these people know the feral? Very slowly, he walked over to the shelf. Had this thief thrown his mother’s things out of the box? He opened the lid as gently as he could and noticed, to his surprise, that everything was still in there. This thief had kept everything. Was it possible that he knew? Was he working with Creed? He closed the lid again and frowned. That feral, Logan, had seemed good enough. There was nothing hostile with him. But the others… There was something wrong with them. He sighed deeply and nodded to himself. He would have to get out of here. As fast as possible. With one quick movement, he lifted the box, only to freeze again when he noticed what was under it. A card. Ace of Spades. The card of misfortune. The card of death. And it was glowing purple. Just seconds after he had lifted the box, the card exploded and he was thrown backwards. He hit the opposite wall, his head smashing into the corner of the bedside table. His eyes rolled back and he blacked out. 


	9. Trouble Sleeping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read this before you continue to the chapter.   
> Lately I've been very bad at updating as often as before and I feel terrible for that. But there is a reason behind it. For a few years now, I've been struggling with anxiety and depression and the last few weeks have been worse than it has been in a long time. I haven't been able to write as much as I would like to. And for that I apologize.   
> Right here and now I'm going to promise you all that this story will not get abandoned. But it might take a bit longer between the chapters since I'm not really back to normal yet.   
> I wanted to thank all my readers for sticking with me for so long. I love you all.   
> With that being said  
> Please enjoy this new chapter

Logan was pacing around in the kitchen while the others were listening to what Ororo was telling them about Remy’s talk with his father. Something felt wrong, but he didn’t know what. He wanted to go upstairs and check on the boy but, at the same time, he knew that not giving the boy his space would end up terribly. Xavier looked at him and frowned. 

“Logan? Is everything alright?” 

The feral looked up. 

“I’m not sure. There is something wrong with the boy.” 

Jean sighed. 

“We just need to keep him here until he falls asleep and grows up again. If he continues to age like he did up till now, he should be 16 or 17 years old the next time he wakes up. Maybe it will be easier to explain things to him then.” 

Rogue frowned. 

“Why would it be easier? That was before he left New Orleans. If anything, he’ll be even more suspicious.” 

Logan nodded. 

“I agree. Especially since he seems to know if we lie or not.” 

That made Scott frown. 

“About that. Remy never called any of us out when we were lying before. Is it possible that it’s a mutation that disappeared? Is that even possible?” 

Everyone turned to Xavier. The professor tilted his head slightly. 

“Honestly, I’ve never heard of anyone growing out of mutations. Mutants can gain mutations through years, but not lose them.” 

Warren rolled his eyes. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” 

Everyone turned to him. 

“After everything he went through as a child, he doesn’t trust anyone. His ability to tell when people are lying is one of his greatest assets. His empathy is another. And notice how he didn’t tell us about either of those. He doesn’t trust us. Any of us.” 

Hearing that, Logan thought back to a night just three days before Remy got changed. 

_ Logan woke up, sweaty and panicked. It took him almost two minutes to calm down enough to stand up. Pictures of events he didn’t remember were still etched in his mind. Memories of torture and pain. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. It was the reason why he had chosen a room so far from the others. He took a deep breath and walked out into the hall. He needed a drink. Moving slowly, taking comfort in the dark halls and the coldness of the night, he made his way down to the kitchen. He opened the door and stopped in shock. Remy was sitting at the table in complete darkness. He was holding a beer in his hand. Logan moved to turn the light on, but Remy’s voice stopped him.  _

_ “Don’t. I see better in the dark than I do in daylight.”  _

_ He was slightly shocked that the cajun had said something like that about himself. Ever since he had gotten to the mansion, he had been extremely careful about what he said and never told them anything about himself. Logan shrugged. He could see in the dark so it didn’t bother him. He pulled a beer out from the fridge and sat down on the opposite side of the table. He looked at the boy with curiosity. Why was he down here in the middle of the night? Remy must’ve noticed his stare, because he looked up at him. Logan kept looking at him calmly. He had noticed before that the boy was a bit unnerved when others avoided eye contact with him. He could understand that. Remy’s eyes were unusual. But he had seen much in his life, and black and red eyes were far from the worst thing he had met with.  _

_ “Trouble sleeping?”  _

_ Remy lifted his beer and took a big clunk. Logan didn’t say anything either. If the cajun wanted to, he would answer. If not, Logan didn’t have anything against sitting in silence. Especially since he had somehow managed to calm down considerably from the moment he entered the kitchen. They sat in the darkness for around five minutes, before Remy finally spoke up.  _

_ “Oui.”  _

_ “Wanna talk about it?”  _

_ The boy shook his head slightly.  _

_ “Non.”  _

_ Then he looked up at Logan with a questioning look.  _

_ “Do you?”  _

_ Logan shrugged.  _

_ “Not much to talk about. Not much that makes sense.”  _

_ Remy smiled suddenly.  _

_ “Nightmares usually don’t make sense. That’s why they scare us.”  _

_ Logan frowned at him.  _

_ “Somehow I have trouble imagining what could scare you.”  _

_ Remy looked a bit surprised, before a haunted look appeared on his face. Logan just kept looking at him. That look didn’t fit on such a young man, but he wasn’t going to press him.  _

_ “There isn’t much.”  _

_ “But there is something.” _

_ He didn’t word it as a question. Remy finished his beer in one go and stood up. He walked over to the fridge and Logan noticed how he flinched when the light from it hit his eyes. Quickly, he pulled out two beers and closed the door with a bit more force than necessary. Logan took one of the beers from him and nodded.  _

_ “Thanks.”  _

_ The boy sat down again and sighed.  _

_ “Very few things.”  _

_ He opened the beer and lifted it slightly towards Logan. The feral clinked his own bottle against it. They sat in silence for a few more minutes, just drinking. It was comfortable.  _

_ “You know, there is something about you I can’t put my finger on.”  _

_ Remy frowned, a sudden mistrust appearing in his eyes. His body tensed up and Logan realized quickly that he was readying himself for an attack.  _

_ “It’s nothing bad. It’s just some kind of calm.”  _

_ Remy relaxed slightly.  _

_ “I’ve been told that before.”  _

_ Then he stood up again, threw the bottles in the garbage bin and walked over to the door. There, he stopped and turned around.  _

_ “Good night, mon ami.”  _

_ And he left without a sound.  _

Logan realized first now that it was the first time Remy had referred to any of them by that term. Of course he kept up with the endearments when it came to Ororo and Rogue. He sometimes even went as far as to try to use them on Jean and Betsy. But he had never heard him call any of them his friend. 

“Speak for yourself.” 

Warren turned to him with a glare. 

“What?” 

“I said: speak for yourself. I actually made some progress with him over time. Something that you never even tried.” 

Warren flew to his feet, but didn’t manage to answer because of the explosion. Jean’s eyes widened. 

“Remy.” 

Moving as one, they all rushed up the stairs, Xavier rolling quickly to the elevator. They got there at the same time and were on their way to Logan’s room, when the feral stopped them. 

“He’s not there.” 

And, with sudden realization, he hurried over to Remy’s room and opened the door with enough force to make it slam against the wall. A few gasps were heard when they saw the state of the room. The bookshelf was in pieces, big parts of it were stuck in the walls. One of them must’ve hit the window, because it was shattered. Books were ripped to shreds and scattered all over the room. The bed was flipped and a part of it was against the bedside table making it lean on it. The wardrobe had its doors blown off and the clothes were in shreds. Logan sniffed in the air and let his nose lead him to where he felt Remy’s scent. It was coming from under the bed. He moved it quickly and heard a few more gasps. Remy was on the floor, curled up. There was a big gash on his head, but otherwise he seemed to be alright. Logan realized quickly that if the bed hadn’t been flipped in the way it had been, the boy might not have survived. He looked up at the others. 

“What the fuck happened here?” 

Even Xavier was too shocked to say anything about his language. Jean walked slowly over to the boy and uncurled him. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw that he was clutching Remy’s box to his chest. She looked up to Logan, who had noticed it now too. 

“Remy set a trap.” 

Scott looked scandalized. 

“That blast could have killed someone! What was he thinking?!” 

Logan rolled his eyes, while he helped Jean move the boy to the bed. 

“He made sure we knew not to touch his things before he did anything like that. He knew that the only person who would ever dare to pick that box up, would be me. And a blast like that wouldn’t do much to me. And, if anyone from the outside wanted to steal it, he would just get his justice. Especially if Creed decided to come and get it.” 

And when everyone stared at him, he went to continue, only to be interrupted by Rogue. 

“That makes sense. Remy is a thief. Of course he would know how to guard himself from other thieves.” 

Meanwhile, Jean had checked the boy carefully for any other injuries. 

“Other than his head wound, he seems to be fine. And it has stopped bleeding so I don’t think we need to do anything. If it was any other situation, I would have insisted on Hank treating him but, with his current condition, he will be fine as soon as he grows up again.” 

Logan nodded. 

“Let’s move him to the living room. And keep an eye on him in case something happens again.” 

He lifted the boy up and glanced over to the box. Rogue, noticing that, lifted it up and smiled. 

“I’ll put it in your room. In the drawer. It’s best if he doesn’t see it, until he is back to himself.” 

Logan nodded. Had anyone else said it, he would have argued. But he trusted Rogue to not look inside the box. 


End file.
